Edward Simon (musician)

Last updated
Edward Simon
Edward Simon.jpg
Edward Simon in 2007
Background information
Born (1969-07-27) July 27, 1969 (age 53)
Punta Cardón, Venezuela
Genres Jazz, Latin jazz, world fusion
Occupation(s)Musician, composer
Instrument(s)Piano
Years active1988–present
Labels AudioQuest, Sunnyside, CAM Jazz

Edward Simon (born July 27, 1969) is a Venezuelan jazz pianist and composer.

Contents

Early life

Simon was born in Punta Cardón, Venezuela. When he was ten years old, he went to the United States of America to study at the Performing Arts School in Philadelphia. After graduating, he attended the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, where he studied classical piano, then the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied jazz piano. [1] [2]

Later life and career

In 1988, he recorded as a sideman with Greg Osby, then worked as a member of the band Horizon led by Bobby Watson. For the next eight years he was a member of Terence Blanchard's band. He has also worked with Herbie Mann, Paquito D'Rivera, Bobby Hutcherson, Jerry Gonzalez, John Patitucci, Arturo Sandoval, Manny Oquendo, and Don Byron. Simon recorded Beauty Within (AudioQuest, 1994), his first album as a bandleader, with Horacio Hernández and bass guitarist Anthony Jackson. [1] During the same year, he was a finalist in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition. Then the following year he composed Rumba Neurotica for the Relache Ensemble.

He formed Ensemble Venezuela in 2003 to combine jazz with the music of Venezuela. He was given a commission by Chamber Music America to write "Venezuelan Suite". He recorded the album in 2012 with musicians from Venezuela, Colombia, and the U.S. [1]

Simon has played on several Grammy-nominated jazz albums. Besides his trio he leads the Sexteto Venezuela, the Afinidad Quartet, and the group Simon, Simon, & Simon with his brothers. He has taught at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York City and has been artist in residence at Western Michigan University.

Discography

As leader

AlbumLabelYear releasedSession musicians
Beauty Within AudioQuest 1994 Horacio Hernández, Anthony Jackson, Diego Urcola
Edward Simon Kokopelli 1995 Larry Grenadier, Adam Cruz, Mark Turner, Milton Cardona
La BikinaMythology1998Adam Cruz, Ben Street, Mark Turner, David Binney, Pernell Saturnino, Diego Urcola, Milton Cardona
Afinidad Red 2001David Binney, Scott Colley, Brian Blade, Adam Cruz, Lucia Pulido, Adam Rogers
The Process Criss Cross 2003 John Patitucci, Eric Harland
Fiestas de AgostoRed2005David Binney, Donny McCaslin
SimplicitasCriss Cross2005 Avishai Cohen, Adam Cruz, Luciana Souza, Adam Rogers, Pernell Saturnino
Unicity CAM Jazz 2006 John Patitucci, Brian Blade
OcéanosCriss Cross2007David Binney, Scott Colley, Brian Blade, Luciana Souza, Adam Rogers, Shane Endsley, Jesse Newman, Alan Ferber, Pernell Saturnino
PoesiaCAM Jazz2009John Patitucci, Brian Blade
Danny BoyAudio & Video Labs2010Philip Donkin, Stephen Keogh
Live in New York at Jazz Standard Sunnyside 2013John Patitucci, Brian Blade
Venezuelan SuiteSunnyside2014-
Latin American SongbookSunnyside [3] 2016-
Sorrows & TriumphsSunnyside2018David Binney, Scott Colley, Brian Blade, Adam Rogers
Solo LiveRidgeway [3] 2021-

As sideman

With Craig Handy

With Greg Osby

With Terence Blanchard

Related Research Articles

Kevin Eubanks American guitarist

Kevin Tyrone Eubanks is an American jazz and fusion guitarist and composer. He was the leader of The Tonight Show Band with host Jay Leno from 1995 to 2010. He also led the Primetime Band on the short lived The Jay Leno Show.

Cassandra Wilson American jazz singer, songwriter, and producer

Cassandra Wilson is an American jazz singer, songwriter, and producer from Jackson, Mississippi. She is one of the most successful female Jazz singers and has been described by critic Gary Giddins as "a singer blessed with an unmistakable timbre and attack [who has] expanded the playing field" by incorporating blues, country, and folk music into her work. She has won numerous awards, including two Grammys, and was named "America's Best Singer" by Time magazine in 2001.

Dave Holland British jazz musician

David “Dave” Holland is an English jazz double bassist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for five decades. He has lived in the United States for over 40 years.

Greg Osby American saxophonist (born 1960)

Greg Osby is an American saxophonist and composer.

Michael Cain is a pianist and composer.

Robin Eubanks Musical artist

Robin Eubanks is an American jazz and jazz fusion slide trombonist, the brother of guitarist Kevin Eubanks and trumpeter Duane Eubanks. His uncles are jazz pianist Ray Bryant and bassist Tommy Bryant. His mother, Vera Eubanks, was famed pianist Kenny Barron's first piano teacher.

Geri Allen American jazz musician and educator (1957–2017)

Geri Antoinette Allen was an American jazz pianist, composer, and educator. In addition to her career as a performer and bandleader, Allen was also an associate professor of music at the University of Pittsburgh and the director of the university's Jazz Studies program.

Terence Blanchard American trumpeter and composer

Terence Oliver Blanchard is an American trumpeter and composer. He started his career in 1982 as a member of the Lionel Hampton Orchestra, then The Jazz Messengers. He has composed more than forty film scores and performed on more than fifty. A frequent collaborator with director Spike Lee, he has been nominated for two Academy Awards for composing the scores for Lee's films BlacKkKlansman (2018) and Da 5 Bloods (2020). He has won five Grammy Awards from fourteen nominations.

Marvin "Smitty" Smith is an American jazz drummer and composer.

<i>Lets Get Lost</i> (album) 2001 studio album by Terence Blanchard

Let's Get Lost is a 2001 studio album by Grammy winning jazz trumpeter Terence Blanchard, recorded with four well-known female vocalists: Diana Krall, Jane Monheit, Dianne Reeves, and Cassandra Wilson. The album is a collection of Jimmy McHugh's songs.

Michael Formanek American jazz bassist

Michael Formanek is an American jazz bassist born in San Francisco, California, United States, and associated with the jazz scene in New York.

William Earl Kilson is an American jazz drummer.

Ralph Peterson Jr. was an American jazz drummer and bandleader.

Bolero Project is an ArtistShare recording project led by Latin singer Leonardo Granados and jazz pianist Edward Simon.

Eric Harland American jazz drummer

Eric Harland is an American jazz drummer.

Branford Marsalis American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader

Branford Marsalis is an American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader. While primarily known for his work in jazz as the leader of the Branford Marsalis Quartet, he also performs frequently as a soloist with classical ensembles and has led the group Buckshot LeFonque. From 1992 to 1995 he led the Tonight Show Band.

In the 1990s in jazz, jazz rap continued progressing from the late 1980s and early 1990s, and incorporated jazz influence into hip hop. In 1988, Gang Starr released the debut single "Words I Manifest", sampling Dizzy Gillespie's 1962 "Night in Tunisia", and Stetsasonic released "Talkin' All That Jazz", sampling Lonnie Liston Smith. Gang Starr's debut LP, No More Mr. Nice Guy, and their track "Jazz Thing" for the soundtrack of Mo' Better Blues, sampling Charlie Parker and Ramsey Lewis. Gang Starr also collaborated with Branford Marsalis and Terence Blanchard. Groups making up the collective known as the Native Tongues Posse tended towards jazzy releases; these include the Jungle Brothers' debut Straight Out the Jungle and A Tribe Called Quest's People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm and The Low End Theory.

Fabian Almazan is a jazz pianist and composer born in Havana, Cuba, and raised in Miami, Florida.

<i>Mindgames</i> (album) 1988 studio album by Greg Osby

Mindgames is the second album by saxophonist Greg Osby recorded in 1988 and released on the JMT label.

<i>Wandering Moon</i> 2000 studio album by Terence Blanchard

Wandering Moon is a studio album by American trumpeter Terence Blanchard. The album was released on February 15, 2000 via Sony Classical label. Blanchard wrote most of the compositions for the record, except for pianist Edward Simon’s waltz "The Process" and jazz standard "I Thought About You". For the latter song, the album was nominated in 2000 for Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Solo.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Lynch, Dave. "Edward Simon". AllMusic. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
  2. Jesse Hamlin (20 June 2018). "Arts & Ends: Edward Simon, Marco Granados take up two nights in Oakland". San Francisco Chronicle.
  3. 1 2 "Edward Simon | Album Discography". AllMusic. Retrieved 20 November 2016.